Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ boosts sales of mythology tales 電影《奧德賽》帶動希臘神話文學作品熱銷

Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of “The Odyssey” has not only lured legions of fans to cinemas, but sparked huge interest in the UK in Homer’s epic poem and other Greek and Roman mythology works.

Some involved in Classics academia hope the blockbuster’s box office success and wider cultural impact will also prompt more young people to study the subject.

The movie’s mid-month release has helped hike UK print edition sales of “The Odyssey” by 1,400 percent in the four weeks to July 25 compared to the same period last year, according to market researchers NielsenIQ.

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Matt Damon as Odysseus, left, in a scene from The Odyssey. 麥特戴蒙在電影《奧德賽》中飾演奧德修斯。環球影業發布之劇照。

Photo: AP 照片：美聯社

A 2017 translation by British-American classicist Emily Wilson of the millennia-old mythological tale has been flying off the shelves at a similarly increased rate.

Britain’s biggest bookstore chain Waterstones saw sales of Wilson’s work rise over 1,000 percent compared to 2025 and were “increasing every week” alongside purchases of “all other available translations,” a spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile NielsenIQ noted many related works — including “The Iliad,” Madeline Miller’s “Circe” and Margaret Atwood’s “The Penelopiad” — had also seen “significant” sales uplifts.

Sculptor and ceramicist Haralambos Goumas works on a terracotta bust of the ancient Greek poet Homer, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, at his workshop in the Athens suburb of Aigaleo on May 27. 雕塑家兼陶藝家哈拉蘭波斯．古馬斯5月27日在雅典近郊艾加里奧的工作室，製作古希臘詩人荷馬的赤陶半身像。荷馬著有《伊里亞德》與《奧德賽》。

Photo: AP 照片：美聯社

Actor and writer Stephen Fry’s “The Odyssey” currently tops the history bestsellers on Amazon’s UK Web site. Two of his other Classics books — “Mythos” and “Troy” — occupy the second and fifth spots respectively on the online giant’s list.

Audiobooks are also sharing in the boom, with Spotify reporting that searches for “The Odyssey” translations have skyrocketed by 310 percent.

“BUZZ”

Workers install a hand-painted billboard, painted by artist Virginia Axioti, for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, outside Athens’ Athinaion cinema on July 11. 工人7月11日在希臘雅典阿西奈翁電影院外，安裝由藝術家維吉尼亞．阿克西奧蒂手繪的電影看板，宣傳由諾蘭執導、麥特戴蒙飾演奧德修斯的新片《奧德賽》。

Photo: AP 照片：美聯社

“People are drawn to these stories,” University of Exeter Classics lecturer Richard Kendall told AFP, hailing the sales spike as “fantastic.”

“And that’s not just writers who continually return to the Greeks and Romans — the history, the myths, the characters, the events — that’s also readers. These are ripping good yarns.”

Kendall, the first expert-in-residence earlier this year at Britain’s The Classical Association, cautioned against viewing the renewed literary interest just in cinema-related isolation.

“If this is a gimmick, it’s been a gimmick that’s been lasting for over 2,000 years at this point,” he said.

“It’s wonderful that this has created so much popularity. People are reading more, but this is just this iteration ... People will always return to these stories.”

Nonetheless, at University College London (UCL) — where British-American director Nolan reportedly studied Homer as an English undergraduate — there are hopes for an increase in enrolments.

“The buzz around the film has been tremendous, and we’re hoping to see a bounce in student numbers in the next few years,” Phiroze Vasunia, head of its Greek and Latin Department, told AFP.

He noted there had been “an exceptional level of interest in Classics and in ancient studies” in recent years, coinciding with the growing fanfare around Nolan’s movie.

CRITICS

Based on Homer’s poem written originally in Greek around the 7th or 8th century BC, the film tracks hero Odysseus as he faces obstacle after obstacle on his trek home from the Trojan War.

It stars Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway as Odysseus and his wife Penelope, with Tom Holland portraying their son Telemachus.

Nolan’s first movie since 2023 Oscar-winner “Oppenheimer,” it has wowed audiences and critics, topping the US box office for two straight weeks and already taking US$640 million worldwide.

But not everyone has been won over by the modern adaptation of one of humanity’s oldest stories.

Wilson — behind an acclaimed translation which Nolan has praised — generated headlines last week after penning a scathing critique of his screenplay.

She argued it “lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth.”

“I would be ashamed to have written any part of this,” Wilson argued in the London Review of Books, adding it “lacks many of the elements that make the poem great.”

High-profile British historian Mary Beard was similarly unconvinced, though like Wilson she welcomed the interest in Homer.

Writing in the Times, Beard bemoaned that the poem’s “erotic puzzles, the teasing ironies, the intriguing questions about truth and falsehood” had been replaced with “a rather ponderous Hollywood message about civilizational decline.” (AFP)

克里斯多福．諾蘭改編的電影《奧德賽》（The Odyssey）不僅吸引大批影迷走進戲院，也在英國掀起荷馬史詩及其他希臘、羅馬神話作品的熱潮。

一些古典學界人士希望這部電影的票房佳績，以及更廣泛的文化影響力，也能促使更多年輕人投入古典學的研究。

根據市場研究公司尼爾森愛科（NielsenIQ）的資料，電影7月中旬上映後，截至7月25日的四週內，《奧德賽》紙本書在英國的銷量大增，是去年同期的1,400%。

美籍英裔古典學者艾蜜莉．威爾森所譯、2017年出版的這部流傳數千年的神話史詩，銷量也以類似增幅快速攀升。

英國最大連鎖書店水石書店（Waterstones）表示，威爾森的譯本銷量較2025年同期增加逾1,000%，連同其他「所有現有譯本」，銷量「每週都在成長」。

尼爾森愛科同時指出，多部相關作品，包括《伊里亞德》（The Iliad）、瑪德琳．米勒（Madeline Miller）的《喀耳刻》（Circe）以及瑪格麗特．愛特伍（Margaret Atwood）的《潘妮洛普》（The Penelopiad）等，其銷量也「大幅」上升。

演員兼作家史蒂芬．弗萊（Stephen Fry）的《奧德賽》一書，目前高居亞馬遜英國網站歷史類暢銷書榜首。他另外兩本古典學著作《神話》（Mythos）及《特洛伊》（Troy），也分居網路巨頭亞馬遜榜單的第二名及第五名。

有聲書也搭上這股熱潮。Spotify表示，搜尋各種語言版本《奧德賽》的次數已暴增310%。

「熱門話題」

「人們就是會被這些故事吸引」，英國艾克斯特大學（University of Exeter）古典學講師理查．肯德爾接受法新社訪問時表示，並說這波銷售熱潮「太棒了」。

「不只是作家不斷回顧希臘與羅馬人的世界——歷史、神話、人物及事件——讀者也是如此。這些故事真的非常精彩」。

肯德爾今年稍早成為英國古典學協會（The Classical Association）首位駐會專家。他提醒，不應把這波重新燃起的文學熱潮單純視為電影帶來的短暫現象。

「如果這是一種噱頭，那麼這噱頭已經持續了超過2,000年」，他說。

「這帶來的人氣如此之高，真的很棒。閱讀的人更多了，但這只是這故事最新的一次演繹……人們永遠都會回頭來看這些故事」。

儘管如此，倫敦大學學院（UCL）仍期待招生人數能夠增加。據報導，英裔美國導演諾蘭大學唸英國文學系，曾在該校修讀荷馬作品。

「這部電影所帶來的熱潮非常驚人，我們希望未來幾年學生人數能有所增加」，倫敦大學學院希臘文與拉丁文系主任菲羅茲．瓦蘇尼亞對法新社表示。

他指出，近年來人們對古典學及古代研究展現「非比尋常的高度興趣」，而這股熱潮正好與諾蘭電影受到的關注同步。

批評的聲音

這部電影改編自荷馬以希臘文創作的史詩，原作約成書於西元前7或8世紀。電影描述英雄奧德修斯（Odysseus）在特洛伊戰爭後踏上返鄉之途，旅程中面臨重重阻礙。

麥特戴蒙與安海瑟薇分別飾演奧德修斯及其妻潘妮洛普（Penelope），湯姆．霍蘭德則飾演其子鐵拉馬庫斯（Telemachus）。

這是諾蘭自2023年獲奧斯卡獎的《奧本海默》（Oppenheimer）後推出的首部電影，不僅獲得觀眾與影評人好評，更連續兩週登上美國票房冠軍，目前全球票房已達6.4億美元。

不過，並非所有人都對這人類最古老故事之一的現代版本感到滿意。

曾推出廣受好評譯本、並獲諾蘭推崇的威爾森，上週因撰文嚴厲批評電影劇本而成為新聞焦點。

她認為該劇本「缺乏心理、情感、政治及倫理層面的深度」。

威爾森撰文在《倫敦書評》（London Review of Books）表示：「如果這電影有任何部分是出於我筆下，我都會感到羞愧」。她並指出，電影「缺乏這部史詩之所以偉大的許多元素」。

英國知名歷史學家瑪麗．比爾德也同樣不以為然，不過她和威爾森一樣，都對電影重新引起大眾對荷馬作品的興趣樂見其成。

比爾德在《泰晤士報》撰文感嘆，原詩中那些「情色謎題、戲謔的反諷，以及關於真實與虛假的引人入勝問題」，如今都被簡化為「好萊塢式對文明衰落的笨重探討」。